Bossy Roxy Upsetting the Others :(

[Foxy Roxy]

Help!!

I'm tearing my hair out with Roxy at the moment. :056: She's so horrible at the moment, has no respect for the others.

Out on walks shes a dream where there aren't any other dogs, she comes back when she's called, fetches the ball, emergency downs etc are all fine.

However, its just with other dogs. She takes one sniff at them and snaps and barks at them, hackles and tail up etc. Now she's started it with our own dogs to.

I took her out agility training on Tuesday and when I got back home she really growled at Rio and Penny. I've been out training today and when I came back home her body language was so strong (tail right up, hackles up etc) that Rio wee'd herself. She growled at Penny also.

When she had a go at Sophie, Soph's gave back as good as she got, and Roxy has had nothing but upmost respect for her ever since.

She's been training today. All the dogs are allowed a run round half way through. All was going fine, Roxy was meeting and greeting politely when all came to a standstill as she had a right go (barking and lunging) at two other dogs, then started on Zara (Mum's dog). I was reallly, reallllly upset about that!!

Help! What do I do!!?! I've tried shutting her out when she does it, shouting at her (sorry - can't help it when poor Rio's taken a snapping at!). Apart from her one to one agility sessions, Rox gets no special treatment (she eats last, not allowed upstairs, not allowed on the sofa etc).

Any suggestions would be gratefully recieved!!!!!

- Holly -

[Gwen]

awww poor Rio! I can't offer any suggestions I'm sorry but I hope you manage to get it sorted out soon x

[Karma]

No real advice, I'm afraid... but it does sound similar to Honey at her worst... fortunately we didn't have any dogs in the house to contend with...

With Honey it really seems to have been a confidence issue, she just stopped being able to read what other dogs were about, so got in first with the barking (just in case). The thing that really helped Honey was the social group we go to, as it helped her learn to "play" again in a controlled environment - when we first went she would woof and grump a lot, but because it didn't get the desired results (the dogs didn't go away, which is generally what happens on a walk), she would then give up and start to play. Out on walks she will still get her grumpy head on from time to time, but it's no where near as bad as it used to be!

As long as she doesn't guard, you could try clicker reinforcing any positive behaviour with other dogs, which is what we were advised (but couldn't cos Honey guards us!!).

Also, try and watch for her body language beginning to show that she's not comfortable - if you can call her away before she reacts, she will learn to return to you rather than getting to the stage of reacting...

[Foxy Roxy]

The social doggie play group sounds great, I must see if I can find something similar in the area.

Part of it seems to be confidence (when out and about meeting dogs) but the other part (at home with the other dogs) seems to just be a downright "I'm head of this house" type thing. Its like two separate issues almost?

I've not really paid her much attention last night/this morning because of how upset she made me yesterday (I know, I know she wouldn't understand that!! I just haven't wanted to make a fuss of her with how horrible she was to poor Rio!). Anyway, this morning she seems to be very respectful of me, almost as if she knows she put her foot well out of line!

I think part of it is that she spends far too much time with me (literally 24/7 !!!) and she tends to guard me etc. The other part of me thinks she could do with a LOT more exercise. She's on the go all day, has a lunchtime and evening walk, but I think she needs longer walks - perhaps if I went out on the bike? Just to take some of this energy away? Bit more exercise for me wouldn't go a miss anyway!!!

I love to give my doggies fuss and cuddles, but if I do this with Rox it seems to add to her attitude problem! As soon as she's had some fuss, she is even more cocky!! I hate this because it stops me fussing her and its something I like doing!!

Grrr, why are they so complicated!! :001::012::001:

[Tanya]

Grrr, why are they so complicated!! :001::012::001:

If only we could read their minds huh ^^ Hope she settles down for you :075:

[Fluffy]

Oh dear,,sounds very frustrating,not much help here for you chick,but i really do hope you manage to find a solution to this tricky situation,best of luck:054:xx

[Foxy Roxy]

Update

Well, we've been to the agility show today and someone round the rings gave me a good tip to distract her from lunging at dogs out and about. We worked on clicker with treats with "watch me" command.

At home we've been only giving her attention when she is quiet and calm and with a couple of other adjustments and things are seeming better. :029:

[Meerkat]

Sorry Holly only just seen this - if someone has an issue and they see I have been on but not posted just drop me a PM and tell me to read a thread please :024::048: sorry I've been flitting in and out lately

Do you do much clicker training with her normally?

Yep the clicker and watch me command is great but also once you have her focussed on you then get her tp do sits and downs etc - keep her guessing what you want her to do tis will make her think and tire her out

Also the with you 24/7 is a hard habit to break but think you need to put her away and take the other dogs out at home - I'm not saying all the time but just so you give the other dogs some one to one attention too

If things don't improve within the next week then get a behaviourist in as hopefully you can nip this behaviour in the bud with one or two sessions with a behaviourist

hope you can sort without a behaviourist but don't try and drag it out too long as 2 sessions now will benefit you rather than in 4 months say and you need to keep going for a year or so

[Foxy Roxy]

Sorry Holly only just seen this - if someone has an issue and they see I have been on but not posted just drop me a PM and tell me to read a thread please :024::048: sorry I've been flitting in and out lately

Do you do much clicker training with her normally?

Yep the clicker and watch me command is great but also once you have her focussed on you then get her tp do sits and downs etc - keep her guessing what you want her to do tis will make her think and tire her out

Also the with you 24/7 is a hard habit to break but think you need to put her away and take the other dogs out at home - I'm not saying all the time but just so you give the other dogs some one to one attention too

If things don't improve within the next week then get a behaviourist in as hopefully you can nip this behaviour in the bud with one or two sessions with a behaviourist

hope you can sort without a behaviourist but don't try and drag it out too long as 2 sessions now will benefit you rather than in 4 months say and you need to keep going for a year or so

Hiya,

Thank you for the message above. :)

I've followed your advice with regards to the 24/7 thing. I took Rio and Penny to my Mum's with me for a cuppa (yes, the dogs had one to! te he) and left Roxy at home on her own. Rio had a fab time playing with Zara, Sophie and Penny and did her confidence (without Rox) the world of good! When I got back, Roxy was pleased to see Rio, but was not at all cocky, if anything, a bit submissive. So, I'm going to carry this on. I used to separate them quite a bit as youngsters but not really been doing it over the last 6 months. I think if I keep this up, I can see it as problem solved. :053: I also think I over reacted last week. I just got panicky and let my nervous panicky energy get into the dogs which didn't help matters. I've been a lot more positive over the last few days and its really reflected in my doggies strange as that sounds??!

Now, out and about with other dogs. Not great, but a LOT better. I've been using the clicker and positve reward reinforcment around other dogs at the agility show and she was so much better, dogs would come right up to her and she was so focussed on me and working for her tiny pieces of food that the other dogs faded into the background.

Out on a long walk yesterday there was a great improvement. The path was fairly narrow in places and both R & R were walking past the dogs fine. The only dog she snapped at was a very submissive (and very beautiful!) cocker that just wanted to play. She wasn't 'aggressive', just warning I suppose? Anyway, I told her she was naughty, and made her come to me which she did, and she the little dog walked past, so I rewarded Rox by letting her have her ball.

So, quite positive really, which I'm really pleased about. Also, after there huge long walk yesterday they're absolutely whacked today - bliss!! te he

Apologies for the essay!!!